Canadian Forestry Journal, ^^pril, ip20. 



The Forester's Task in the Prairie 



Provinces 



With Careful Management Canada 



Can Build Up the Rich Forest 



Properties Achieved 



by Europe 



16$. 



During the late war the woods of 

 England, the plantations of Scotland 

 and the carefully managed forests of 

 France and Belgium were for many- 

 months felled as fast as axe and saw 

 could cut, for use in the trenches and 

 the many other uses that the war had 

 for wood. The question confronting 

 those countries today is, how are 

 these forests to be replaced, and how 

 is the demand for wood in the future 

 to be met. These questions are oc- 

 cupying minds not only in those 

 countries, but also in countries that 

 will have to help in providing the 

 supply. 



We used to believe that Canada's 

 timber supply was inexhaustible, now 

 we know better. While our informa- 

 tion regarding the quantity of remain 

 ing timber is not yet complete, we 

 have, however, progressed sufficiently 

 far in our investigations to know 

 that our supply of timber is definitely 

 limited. 



Our saw timber resources have 

 been estimated at various quantities 

 ranging frtmi 500 billion feet board 

 measure, to 9,000 feet board measure. 

 These figures convey little idea until 

 we learn that the largest of these 

 estimates is not more than would be 

 consumed by the United States and 

 Canada together at their present rate 

 in twenty years. Canada's timl>cr. 

 therefore, is not more than enough to 

 supply the demands of this continent 

 for more than twenty years, provided 

 that during this period \vc lost no 

 standing timl)er by lire. ^Vs a mat- 

 ter of fact our losses by fire are still 

 larsre. 



Can Wood be Replaced? 



It might be pointed out by some 

 of you that in many respects wood is 

 being replaced by other materials. To 

 a certain extent this is true, but 

 figures, as far as we have been abl ' 

 to get them, do not bear out the view" 

 that the use of wood is decreasing. 

 For some uses there has been a de- 

 crease, but to counteract this, new 

 uses are constantly opening up. A 

 list of a few of these new uses in- 

 clude artificial silk, imitation leather, 

 jiaper towels, cardboard packing 

 cases, insulation for electric cables, 

 wooden paving blocks, etc. 



The rate at which wood is con- 

 sumed in the manufacture of paper 

 in Canada has steadil}' increased. In 

 1916 the quantity of pulpwood cut 

 amounted to o\er 2.S00.000 cords 

 and to give you siune idea what this 

 quantity of wood represents, I might 

 say that if it were all in four-foot 

 lengths, and jiiled four feet high, the 

 ]>ile would reach a distance of 4.292 

 miles, or in othrr words from Van- 

 couver t(t Halifax, and out into the 

 ocean one-fifth of the way to Liver- 

 ])ool. The lumber sawn in Canadian 

 saw-mills in one year, if placed in 

 one ]mU\ W(ndd niakt- a cube a quar- 

 ter of a mile t<> the side, or fill a 

 freight train long enough to reach 

 from Calgary to Fort William, and 

 then half way back to Winnipeg. Or 

 it would build enough five or six 

 roomed houses to house comfortably 

 one niiliion ]H'Ople. 



